Posted on April 25th, 2018

A bill seeking to enact harsher penalties on detainees who expose themselves and conduct lewd behavior while in custody was unanimously passed out of the Criminal Law Committee in the Illinois Senate on Tuesday night.

Senate Bill 3104, proposed by Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart and sponsored by Senator Bill Cunningham, would require inmates to register as sex offenders upon their second conviction of indecent exposure if the conduct occurred in a penal institution. The bill would also add a conviction of indecent exposure to the list of offenses that can trigger a loss of all custody credit if the detainee was sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

Since January 1, 2017, there have been more than 620 incidents of indecent exposure and lewd conduct by jail detainees.

In less than 12 hours prior to the bill being called for a committee vote, more than 750 Cook County deputy correctional officers and supervisors signed petitions urging the bill’s passage. The bill now moves to the Senate floor for a vote.